Receptacle closure



Dec.. M, 19 i R. M. ROSS RECEPTACLE CLOSURE Filed oct. S, 1945 2 sheets-sheet 1 n INVENTOR Rober M. Ross Dec. M, 1948. R. M. Ross RECEPTACLE CLOSURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 5, 1945 v ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 14, 1948 RECEPTACLE CLGSURE Robert M. Ross, Katonah, N. Y.

Application October 5, 1945, Serial No. 620,466

8 Claims. (Cl. 215-43) This invention relates to the making of closures for bottles, jars and other forms of receptacles of the type provided with screw threads, lugs or other forms of projections for fastening the closure to the mouth of the receptacle and retaining it thereon.

The invention provides a novel closure made from a single piece of sheet metal or other suitable sheetmaterial. It is equipped with receptacle engaging projections either in the form of screw threads or lugs concealed from the outside of the closure.

Conventional closures made from sheet material usually have receptacle engaging projections formed in the side wall of the closure. resulting in grooves in the side wall of the closure which detracts from its appearance, offer places where dust or other impurities tend to collect and are objectionable for various other reasons.

Closures made from sheet material are also made with double thick side walls, a portion of the side wall being folded back into the hollow of the closure. Closures of this type offer diiliculties'in manufacture because screw threads or lugs have to be formed in the inturnedvportion by a single tool operating without a reaction or deformation pressure relieving counter tool. Closures of the last mentioned type possess the further disadvantage of presenting the surface of the sheet material which forms the outside of the closure also as the inside surface of the screw threads or projections. This surface is ordinarily decoratively finished by a lithographie imprinting producing a coating which tends to stick under relatively high surface pressure such as ordinarily occurs on the screw threads. y

The invention provides a novel closure made from a single piece of sheet material which offers numerousadvantages over the types of closures heretofore available.

A representative form of closure embodying the present invention comprises an end Wall and an outer side wall integral with the end wall. An inner side wall portion lies substantially concentrically inside .the outer side wall and has inwardly projecting receptacle engaging projecresistant to deformation and presents an unbroken, smooth and pleasing outside surface, which lends itself particularly well to decorative finishing. The inside surface of the screw threads or the receptacle engaging lugs is the same surface of the sheet material which forms the inside surface of the end wall of the closure and may for this reason be given a coating of a protective or corrosion resisting finish or lacouer which. due to its hardness, makes it particularly suited for the coating of screw threads.

The invention further provides a method comprlsing a series of steps for the forming of the improved closure from sheet material.

The various objects, features and advantages of this invention will appear more fully from the detailed description which follows, accompanied by drawings showing, for the purpose of illustration, preferred embodiments of the invention, and steps in the method of making them.

The invention also consists in certain new and original features of construction, and combination of parts and in the steps of producing the improved closure as hereinafter set forth and claimed. i

Although the characteristic features of this invention which are believed to be novel will be particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto, the invention itself, its objects and advantages, and the manner in which it may be carried out. may be better understood by ref erring to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross section through a closure embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section through a modifled form of closure;

Figs. 3a through 9a illustrate `successive steps in the method of forming a closure embodying this invention, the resulting closure being that illustrated in Fig. 1; and

Figs. 3b through 9b illustrate successive steps in themethod of forming a closure embodying this invention, the resulting closure being that illustrated in Fig. 2.

In the following description and in the claims, various details will be identified as specific names for convenience. The names, however, are intended to be as generic in their application as the art will permit. Like reference 'characters refer to like parts in the several figures of the drawings. In the drawings certain dimensions are exaggerated in order to illustrate the structure 3 of and the various steps in forming the closure more clearly.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part ofthis specification, certain specic disclosure of the invention is made for the purpose of explanation of broader aspects of the invention, but it is understood that the details may be modifled in various respects without departure from the principles of the invention and that the invention may be applied to other structures than the ones shown.

Referring to the drawings. the closure A shown in Fig. 1 is formed from a single piece of sheet metal or other suitable sheet material and comprise an end wall II having a substantially cylindrical outer side wall I2 formed thereon. A connecting portion I3 .is integral with the outer side wall I2 and extends therefrom along the inner surface of the outer side wall I2 to a certain depth of the closure. An inner side wall Iii extends from the connecting portion I3 and has its free edge I5 turned back in the form of a bead I6 lying closely adjacent to the edge Il at which the outer side wall I2 and the connecting portion I3 Join. A helical screw thread I 8 is formed in the inner side wall Il. The screw thread I8 exside wall I4 forms a curved shoulder 2i with a connecting portion I3 for reasons which will become apparent from a consideration of the method of making the closure. be inserted into the closure A to cover the inside surface of the end wall II.

The closure `lust described may be produced substantially as follows:

A flat blank B of sheet material may be out from large sheets of material on automatic machines. The top surface 23 of the sheet and blank which later forms the insidesurface of the resulting closure may be coated with a protective hard surface coating or lacquer and the bottom surface 24 forming the outside surface in the finished closure may be lithographically imprinted or otherwise be decoratively finished.

A cup B' is first drawn or formed from the flat blank B as shown in Fig. 4b. The cup is shown in Fig. 4b and has an end wall II and a substantially side wall I2, a portion of which later becomes the outer side wall of the finished closure.

'I'he cup B' is subjected to an operation to reduce the diameter of the top portion of its side wall' I2 resulting in a structure B" having a side wall I2 of large diameter adacent the end wall Il and a side wall I4 of reduced diameter bordered by a free edge I5. The two side wall portions I2 and I5 form a shoulder 2I therebetween.

In a succeeding operation helical screw threads are formed in the cup B". This operation is preferably performed by a set of tools comprising a male screw thread forming tool 25 and a female screw thread forming tool 26. Both tools are rotated in opposite directions with respect to one another and impress an extremely accurate helical thread into the side wall portion Il.

The resulting structure B'" is shown in Fig. 7a and is ready for collapsing of the threaded inner wall portion I 4 into the outer side wall I2. The collapsing operation may be performed by a tool A gasket 22 may z 21 bearing with its lower edge 28 against the shoulder 2l of the structure B". v erted by the tool 2l in a vertical downward direction while the end wall II and the outer side wall portion I2 is being held and supported by a suitable tool or chuck not shown in the drawingsk for reasons of clarity. As the tool 21 is forced downwardly towards the end wall II the top portion of the side wall I2 of large diameter folds inwardly and downwardly and forms the connecting portion I3 in the resulting structure shown in Fig. 8a.

The side wall of the structure shown in Fig. 8a is of triple thickness, the material being, in a sense, folded twice back upon itself. The outer side wall I2 lies outermost. The connecting portion I3 overlies the inside surface of the outer side wall and the inner side wall I4 overlies the connecting portion I3. The surfaces facing the inside of the structure are all formed from the same surface 23 of the original blank which may be coated with a protective hard lacquer or coating. The opposite surface 24 of the blank which may bear a decorative lithographie imprint forms the outside surface of the structure shown in Fig. 8a and atrio point c-omes in contact with the contents of the receptacle over which the closure is to'be placed nor with the closure engaging surfaces oi the receptacle.

The forming operations on the closure are completed by a forming tool 28 which engages the free edge I5 of the inner side wall and bends it over against the connecting side wall portion I3 forming a bead I6 as shown in Fig. `9a. The closure is now ready for use atfer insertion of a suitable gasket 22 shown in Fig. 1.

A modified form of closure is shown in Fig. 2. The closure C differs in cross section somewhat from the closure A shown in Fig. 1 by reason of a modification in the method of forming it.

Referring to Fig. 2, the closure C is formed from 'a single piece of sheet metal or other suitable sheet material and comprises an end wall I I having a substantially cylindrical outer side wall I2 formed thereon. A connecting portion I3 is integral with the outer side wall I2 and extends therefrom along the inner surface of the outer side wall to a certain depth of the closure. l An inner side wall I4 extends from the connecting portion I3 and has its free edge I5 turned back in the form of a bead I 6 lying closely adjacent to the edge II at which the outer side wall i2 and the connecting portion I3 join.

Helical screw threads I8 are formed in the inner side wall Il. The screw threads extend to and terminate at a portion near, but spaced from the bead I6 leaving an inner cylindrical portion 20 of a width d for piloting and guiding the closure on the cylindrical end portion of the mouth of the receptacle on which the closure is tobeplaced.

The difference of the structure of the closure C from the closure A shown in Fig. 1 rests principally in the absence of a pronounced shoulder between the inner side wall I4 and the connecting portion I3. The closure C may be made substantially as follows.

A flat blank B of suitable diameter may be cut from large sheets of material on automatic machines. The top surface 23 of the sheet or blank surface 24 forming the outside surface oi' the Force is exannonce finished closure may be lithographically imprinted or otherwise be decoratively finished.

A cup B' is first drawn or formed from the fiat blank B as shown in Fig. 4b. `The diameter of the cup is substantially equal to the diameter of the inner side wall it in the finished closure.

lThe cup has an end wall Il and a substantially cylindrical side wall I4 a portion of which later becomes theinner side wall it of the finished closure.

The cup B' is subjected to an operation to enlarge the diameter of the bottom portion of the side wall It resulting in a structure B" olf-Fig. 5b having a side wall I2 of large diameter adjacent the end wall II and a side wall It of smaller diameter. bordered by a. free edge Ib. The enlarging operation may be performed by a pair of rotating tools 29 and 30 rotating in opposite directions and engaging the side wall of the drawn cup B'.

The resulting structure B is then subjected to a screw thread forming operation which may be performed by tools 2t and 26 illustrated in Fig. 6a. The result of the operation is a structure B'" shown in Fig. 6 having screw threads i8 formed in the side wall portion It. The screw threads terminate a certain distance from the edge I5 leaving a margin amply sufficient for the succeeding bead forming operation illustrated in Fig. 7b.

A bead forming tool 28 engages the free edge I5 on the inner side wall I4 and turns it outwardly to form a bead IB thereon. In the resulting structure the end of the thread I8 is spaced a certain distance d from the bead I6 leaving a cylindrical portion 2D closely adjacent the bead I6.

The structure shown in Fig. 8b is ready for a nal collapsing operation performed by a collapsing tool SI bearing against the beaded rim I6. Under the pressure of the tool the inner side wall Ill moves into a position inside the outer side wall l2, a connecting portion I3 being formed from the top portion of the outer side wall I2 which folds inwardly as illustrated in Fig. 9b. At the end of the collapsingoperation the bead I8 rests snugly against the edge I'I of the outer side wall. The structure is now ready for use as a closure after insertion of a suitable gasket.

It is of course not indispensable that the forming operations be performed in the sequence described nor is it necessary that the closure A shown in Fig. 9a be formed by the series of operations illustrated in Figs. 3a to 6a. The closure may equally well be formed from a cup of smaller diameter as illustrated in Fig. 4b followed by an operation to enlarge the lower portion of the side wall It to the diameter of the side wall I2. Therefore the steps leading to the forming of the closure A illustrated in Fig. 9a may be composed of the steps illustrated in Figs. 3b, 4b, 5b and 6b followed by steps illustrated in Figs. 7a, 8a and 9a. Conversely the closure C of Fig. 9b may be formed from a cup whose top portion is reduced in diameter as illustrated in Fig. 5a. The closure C of Fig. 9b may therefore be produced by the series of operations illustrated in Figs. 3a, 4a, 5a and 6a followed by the operations illustrated in Fins. 7b, 8b and 9b. v

The interchangeability of steps is indicated by a set of arrows combining the several figures in 'the nature of a flow sheet and indicating that the operations illustrated in Figs. 3 to 6 with the index a may be combined with the steps illustrated in Figs. 'I to 9 with the index b and vice versa.

It is also not necessary that the several forming operations be performed severally. For example, it is quite practical to combine the expanding dperation illustrated in Fig. 5b with the thread forming operation illustrated in Fig. 6b. The tools for performing this combined operation resemble the tools 29 and 30 with the exception that thread forming elevations and depressions are provided thereon similar tothe ones on the tools 2b and 28. y

In the drawings, particularly Fig. 3a and 3b, the blanks are shown with the decoratively finished surface 2t down and the lacquered surface 23 up. This is merely done for the sake of illustration, it being understood that it is generally found to be more convenient to cut the blanks with the decoratively finished or imprinted surface 2Q up.

Closures manufactured according to the invention are extremely attractive since no screw threads mar the appearance of the outer side wall. The concealment of the screw threads also adds to the mechanical advantages of the closure. Even if the closure is accidentally dented, the deformation usually does not extend through three thicknesses of sheet material to the threaded inner side wall and therefore does not lead to a faulty fit of the closure. The triple wall thickness makes the closure extremely rigid and resistant to distortion.- As a result the closure is easier to apply to or remove from receptacles than closures of conventional type.

Screw threads may be formed to very close tolerances due to the fact that a male tool and a female tool are used simultaneously for forming the threads. The considerable deformation forces exerted by each tool against the material are re' sisted by an equally great force exerted by the other tool in the opposite direction. This is an important advantage over other types of closures having concealed receptacle engaging projections.

The gasket 22 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 can best be placed into the closure shell after the operation illustrated in Fig. 4a and before the operation illustrated in Fig. 5a. Also it may be placed into the closure between the operations shown in Figs. 4b and 5b respectively. This offers the advantage that the gasket can be cut to the full diameter of the inside of the closure shell where" by distortion of the gasket is avoided which would result from an insertion of the gasket after completion of the forming operations.

Obviously the present invention is not restrict-- ed to the specific embodiments herein shown and described. Various changes, omissions, additions, substitutions and modifications may be made without departing from the principles of the invention. For example, lugs may be substituted for the screw threads for engaging appropriate' projections on-the receptacle. It is therefore understood that wherever reference is made in the foregoing description to screw threads, the same considerations apply to lugs or other forms of projections. 1

portion having in its wall an indentation in the shape of a screw thread.

2. A receptacle closure of sheet material comprising an end wall portion; an outer side wall portion integral with said end wall portion; an intermediate wall portion integral with, and turned baci: upon, said outer side wall portion; a substantially cylindrical inner side wall portion integral with, and turned back upon, said intermediate portion, said inner side wall portion having in its wall receptacle engaging indentation; and a terminal bead portion integral with, and turned back upon, said inner side wall portion, said terminal bead portion abutting said intermediate portion.

3. A receptacle closure of sheet material comprising an end wall portion; an outer side Wallportion integral with said end wall portion; an intermediate Wall portion integral with, and turned back upon, said outer side wall portion; a substantialy cylindrical inner side wall portion integral with, and turned back upon, said intermediate portion, said inner side wall portion having in its wall an indentation in the shape of a screw thread; and a terminal bead portion integral with, and turned back upon, said inner side wall portion, said terminal bead portion abutting said intermediate portion at, and forming a portion of, the lip of the closure.

4. A one-piece receptacle closure of sheet material comprising an end wall; an outer side wall integral with said end wall; an intermediate wall integral with said outer side wall; and a substantially cylindrical inner side wall, said outer, intermediate, and inner side walls forming substantially a Z in cross section of the closure, said inner side wall having in its wall inwardly extending receptacle engaging projections, the terminal edge of the inner side wall abutting said intermediate side wall at the lip of the closure.

5. A one-piece receptacle closure of sheet material comprising an end wall; an. outer side Wall integral with said end wall; an intermediate wall integral with said outer side wall; a substantially cylindrical inner side wall, said outer, intermediate, and inner side walls forming substantially a Z in cross section of the closure, said inner side wall having in its wall inwardly extending receptacle engaging projections; and a terminal bead portion integral with said inner side wall, said terminal bead portion constituting a portion of the lip of the closure.

8. A one-piece receptacle closure of sheet material comprising an end wall; an outer sidewall integral with said end wall; an intermediate wail integral with said outer side wall; a substantially cylindrical inner side wall, said outer, intermediate, and inner side walls forming substantially a Z in cross section of the closure, said inner side wall having in its wall anindentation in the shape of a screw thread, the terminal edge oi' the inner side wall abutting said intermediate side wall at the lip of the closure.

7. A one-piece receptacle closure of sheet material comprising an end wall; an outer side wall integral with said end wall; an intermediate wall integral with said outer side wall; a substantially cylindrical inner side wall, said outer, intermediate, and inner side walls forming substantially a Z in cross section of the closure, said inner side wall having in its wall an indentation in the shape of a screw thread; and a terminal bead portion integral with said inner side wall, said terminal bead portion abutting said inner side wall at, and forming part of, the lip of the closure.

8. A one-piece receptacle closure oi sheet material comprising an end wall; an outer side wall integral with said end wall; an intermediate wall integral with said outer side wall; and a substantially cylindrical inner side wall, said outer, intermediate, and inner side walls forming substantially a Z in cross section of the closure, said inner side wall having in its wall on indentation in the shape of a screw thread, the terminal edge of the inner side wall abutting said intermediate wall at the lip of the closure, the thread shaped indentation terminating short of the lip of the closure leaving a substantially cylindrical inner wall portion adjacent the lip adapted to guide the closure with respect to the mouth of the receptacle to which it is being attached.

. ROBERT M. ROSS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the ille of this patent:

` UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

